Groves is confident he will be given the more high-profile slot at Liverpool’s Echo Arena – ‘James I’m sure has been told an awful lot of stuff throughout his career, and he’s waiting for someone to start telling him the truth...Sky’s telling me he’s not gonna be (chief support)’ – leaving DeGale to respond that Groves has felt ‘in his shadow’ since they first met.

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James DeGale believes George Groves has always been in his shadow - calling him the 'ugly kid'

DeGale said he had never been friends with Groves, despite them coming up through the same gym

‘We've had this conversation and I've asked Eddie Hearn “What the f*** is happening?”’ said DeGale. “I go on Ringside, I'm a Matchroom fighter and this guy is sitting beside me telling me he is chief support? What the f***?

‘Basically we were going back and forth and the ugly kid was moaning but I don't care. All I care about is what I'm getting paid that night and getting the win.

‘He has never liked me because he has always been in my shadow. It started the day he came in the club. I'll tell you the truth, I was basically the main boy at the club – the golden boy really – I was there before him and then he was always chasing behind me.

Groves insists his fight against Denis Douglan will be afforded the chief support slot next week

‘Obviously I won national titles and all that and then he beat me on a majority decision as an amateur. He shouldn't have won but it doesn't matter and then me going to the Olympics killed him.

‘I used to batter him (in sparring). He was a couple of years younger than me. We have never been friends really. You know when you go to the gym you have a couple of mates and that? Well I used to go in there, do my work and come out. We've never ever been friends.’

Both fighters have benefited from their rivalry. Their fight for the British super middleweight title, when Groves narrowly outpointed DeGale in May 2011, was among the most hyped domestic fights in recent years but DeGale believes that was his making and that Groves owes him as a consequence.

Both Groves and DeGale are on the undercard to Tony Bellew's (left, in 2011) bout with Nathan Cleverly

‘He should be grateful to me, 100 per cent,’ he said. ‘Why should I be grateful to him? He should be grateful to me because I made him.

‘When we turned professional, I came back as Olympic gold medallist and all of a sudden the talk straight away was 'Groves beat him as an amateur' all stuff like that.

‘I was the hyped-up Olympic gold medallist and then they just brought him in to build a rivalry. I have made him.’